Jeepers Creepers 3 Shoots Next Month with Original Director

Back in March 2016, we reported that the long-gestating Jeepers Creepers 3 is finally happening, with original Jeepers Creepers star Gina Philips being eyed to return. Director Victor Salva, who wrote and directed Jeepers Creepers and Jeepers Creepers 2, was back to direct with an April 2016 shoot lined up in Vancouver, but that shoot never happened. Today we have word that the sequel is back on track yet again, with the production shifting to Louisiana and filming set to begin next month.

Bloody-Disgusting reports that Victor Salva is returning to write and direct, but it hasn't been confirmed if Gina Phillips is still coming back to reprise her role as Trish from the first Jeepers Creepers. An earlier report in September 2014 revealed that Jonathan Breck will return as The Creeper with Brandon Smith also reprising his role as Sergeant Davis Tubbs from the first movie, but their return has yet to be confirmed.

It's also worth noting that the illicit past of director Victor Salva seemed to have an impact on production stopping last year. In 1988, the director pleaded no contest and was convicted for engaging in oral copulation with a minor. The minor in question was Nathan Forrest Winters, the 12-year-old lead actor of the director's horror thriller Clownhouse, with the director reportedly videotaping himself performing sexual acts with his young star. Just a week after it was reported that Gina Phillips may return for the sequel, a casting call for the sequel went out, which prompted the The Union of British Columbia Performers to issue a warning to talent agencies about the director's past, which prompted Breakdown Services to remove the casting call permanently.

The role that was being cast at the time was an 18-year-old girl named Addison, who, at the age of 13, is forced to move in with her grandmother after her stepdad 'started making overtures'. It was never quite clear how large of a role this was, or how Addison fits into this story, but the original synopsis revealed the story is set on the final day of The Creeper's 23-day feeding frenzy, with Tubbs returning to form a task force, "hellbent on destroying the creeper for good." The synopsis also teased that the Creeper's enemies, "grow closer than ever before to learning the secret of its dark origins."

The original Jeepers Creepers movie was released in 2001, featuring a performance by a then-rising star Justin Long, alongside Gina Phillips, Eileen Brennan, Brandon Smith, Jeffrey William Evans and Jonathan Breck as The Creeper. The movie earned just $37.9 million domestically and an additional $21.3 million worldwide for a $59.2 million worldwide total. While those numbers aren't necessarily huge, Jeepers Creepers was produced under just a $10 million budget. Jeepers Creepers 2 hit theaters in 2003, earning $35.6 million domestically and $27.4 million internationally for a worldwide total of $63.1 million from a $17 million budget. No budget figures were released for the sequel, which at one point was entitled Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral, although it remains to be seen if that title will remain intact.